By all accounts, Baja California’s civilian and military authorities have forged a close-knit alliance in recent years as they combat drug-trafficking groups in the state. But on Monday, the anger of the region’s top military general toward the state’s second-in-command became a very public matter.

Gen. Alfonso Duarte Múgica, commander of Mexico’s Second Military Region, used the phrase “drunk, rude and disrespectful” to describe Cuauhtémoc Cardona, the secretary-general of Baja California. His comment was captured on a video now being disseminated across Mexico.

Duarte made the characterization during a Mexican Independence Day gathering last week in the state capital, Mexicali. Guests in attendance included Cardona and Baja California Gov. José Guadalupe Osuna Millán.

The exchange was originally broadcast on a web channel operated by the Baja California government, then picked up Monday by media organizations.

“I don’t want him in any military installation,” Duarte is heard on the video telling Osuna in front of Cardona. Duarte then went on to tell the governor, “you have all my respect.”

Duarte’s displeasure appears to have stemmed from a Sept. 10 military ceremony in Mexicali. With Osuna away in Asia, Cardona was representing the state government at that event.

In press interviews this week, Cardona said he was barred from the podium after arriving minutes late. “After the ceremony, I did not see it convenient to remain for the dinner and dance,” he added.

Cardona denied arriving drunk and said he had personally apologized to Duarte.

Osuna is saying the relationship between the military and state officials remains intact, and that he has no plans to remove Cardona from his post.

The coordiination "not only will be maintained, it will be strengthened," Osuna told reporters in Mexicali on Tuesday.

The scolding raises uncomfortable questions about the relationship between civilian officials and military commanders in Mexico, said Victor Alejandro Espinoza, a political analyst from El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, a research center headquartered in Tijuana. “It seems there is an attitude of submission on the part of civilian authorities, and this is extremely troubling.”

Duarte has been a powerful figure in Baja California, the widely acknowledged leader of the fight against drug traffickers there.

Across the state, “the military has a high level of sympathy and support from the population,” said Victor Clark, a human rights activist who has closely followed the region’s struggle against organized crime.

Duarte’s outburst is not the first time that a member of Mexico’s military has lashed out against a civilian official in Baja California. In 2008, Gen. Sergio Aponte Polito, then commander of Baja California’s Second Military Zone, sent out an open letter accusing three dozen municipal, state and federal police officials of being corrupt.